Context and Comprehension

Recently, I did a craft program at one of our libraries that had a mix of kids, tweens and teens in the room. In order to ease the process, I had created a list of the materials each participant needed to complete their project, went over it before I had each table come up to get the materials, then stood at the table helping them pick out their supplies. Here is what they needed:

1 large wood bead

1 whole pipe cleaner

1 half pipe cleaner

28 pony beads

1 bell

felt

So I helped the kids get their materials and it wasn't working. It was like they were ignoring what I was saying. Okay, I'm used to this, but something was kind of poking me in the back of my brain and about half an hour into the program I realized that they weren't ignoring me--they just had no idea what I was talking about. They did not know what felt or a pipe cleaner was and they couldn't distinguish the round jingle bells I had brought from a bead. As a crafter from the time I was three years old, this freaked me out completely, but then I started thinking about the big picture and I REALLY freaked out.

Reading is more just than just being able to sound out or recognize words and say them aloud. It requires comprehension, probably the hardest thing to both learn and master. What comprehension requires (among other things, I'm sure) is enough contextual knowledge of the world to be able to grasp or figure out meaning.

So using the kids in my craft program (who were wonderful, btw; this isn't a dig at them by any means) as an example, if they were reading a paragraph and it said something about a pipe cleaner, they don't have the contextual knowledge to know what that is, so that image is a hole in their comprehension.

This happens a lot, especially in as diverse a world as we all live in. I was in one of my classes a few weeks ago and the professor and several of the students had an in-depth conversation about whether Lil' Kim or Nikki Minaj was the reigning queen of hip-hop and I was lost after the first thirty seconds because I don't have strong contextual knowledge of hip-hop. My husband and I went with my stepson (age 14) to see Hairspray at LaGuardia High School and my stepson didn't get half the jokes. Again, lack of knowledge.

Here's another example. I was reading a book this weekend to review for VOYA and came across a couple of sentences that really jumped out at me in the context of this post:

"The angle grinder was a small hand held tool with a diamond wheel like a miniature circular saw used for cutting anything from concrete to tile."

So to fully comprehend that sentence, the reader needs to know what a circular saw is, and that a diamond wheel is a special kind of saw blade that has diamond on it to cut through hard-to-cut materials. As a teen, I would have understood this because I watched a lot of "This Old House" and spent a good deal of time in home improvement stores with my brother; but would the average teen girl for whom this book is written know this?

Here's another example in the same vein:

"We'll need . . . Some heavy-duty extension cords, a decent socket set, what else?"

See what I mean? How many teen girls know what a socket set is?

And when the texts young people are most expected to comprehend show clear bias toward the experiences of the dominant social group, those outside of that group are not only at a disadvantage when it comes to comprehension, they are getting the not-so-subtle message that their own context is not as important.

So again, I am making my pitch that one of the most important things we can do as librarians is to broaden the knowledge of the teens we work with so that they have a better understanding of the context in which they live and read. You don't necessarily have to bring in a socket set (although I am suddenly struck with the need to do wood craft programs--another initiative for 2011 to balance out the sewing programs--sweet!! Details TBA.) but think broadly about what you're doing for and with teens.

Examples: there have been so many really cool science discoveries in the news (my favorite is the one about the arsenic-metabolizing bacteria discovered in a lake in California) that could easily be made into a display, an impromptu trivia game or an online scavenger hunt.

Or what about the project ABC News is doing about simple, personal things we can all do to "save a life"? (I admit I didn't watch the special but I did see a clip about how Stanford University students developed warming suits for premature babies born in villages without electricity which is pretty cool.) The premise is to take a problem, focus on it and come up with solutions. We could do lots of things like this in the library, local problems, world problems, social problems, health problems. You get the idea.

Bottom line: if you want to help your teens be better readers, open up the world to them!

Cash in the Coffee Can: $180

A Christmasy (ish) Thought

I am not a religious person. I don't belong to any particular spiritual tradition or practice and I have ongoing internal debates about all of the big issues surrounding religion. But ever since I was a kid, my favorite part of doing the Christmas decorations was setting up our Nativity.

It wasn't a fancy one, but the manger had a loft and at some point my mother had bought a little bag of straw, so I was very excited to pad the manger floor with it. I don't know what happened to the original Wise Men but they were replaced at some point before my memory with three plastic Wise Men in a slightly smaller scale the Family. This freaked me out (even as a child, I had the librarian's need for precision and order) so I always set them far enough away from the Family so that their diminutive stature was not so noticeable.

Even now, far removed from those days, I still love Nativities. There is a church on Staten Island a block or so away from the Staten Island Zoo that does a live Nativity the first three weekend in December and driving by is one of my favorite holiday traditions (especially last year when they had an alpaca in the little petting zoo with the sheep and donkey! While it's factual inaccuracy irked me [librarian!], I figure it was acting as a substitute for a camel and let it go since I was just so excited to see an alpaca.). And as if I needed another reason for "Raising Hope" to be my favorite show on TV, they did a (twisted) live Nativity episode a few weeks ago that made me spit coffee out my nose. So you get the idea.

I took me a long time to figure out WHY I love Nativities so much. I was already working as a children's librarian at the time when it hit me.

To me (and this is my own sense of it, not at all grounded in any theology and I mean no offense) the Nativity represents the love and promise into which every child should be born. All children should be viewed as such a precious gift to the world.

Years ago, I was processing library card applications for the girls' detention center I was working with and I noticed one of the girls was named Precious. And I had to stop and think for a moment about the series of events that had to happen for a baby to be born, given the name Precious and fifteen years later, for the girl that baby became to be in jail. Without even knowing the real story, the idea of it broke my heart.

So I write all of this as a reminder (as much to myself as anyone else) that children (teens included, and adults, too--we were all children once!) are precious. And as much as they drive us crazy, they are each a gift of hope to the world.

This holiday season, be thankful for your own precious gifts and the gifts of those around you. May they bring our world peace in the coming year.

:)

Cash in the Coffee Can: $166

Non-Readers

Early this week, I continued my adventures with the boys' residence where my new pal Billy resides. Monday was a rough day for the young men there. Actually, it was a rough day all around (well, I know for me it was). I think it was the snow and the abrupt drop in temperature. Or maybe something cosmic. Who knows. All I know is that several of the boys had meltdowns and the phrase "I hate the library!" was uttered so many times it broke my little librarian heart.

But I've been thinking about this all week and here's what I came up with.

First, I understand where that reflexive "I hate the library" response comes from. As I talked about last week, I get that for many of these young men (and many, many more like them throughout our borough, city, state and nation), reading is a difficult and painful activity that they associate with shame, failure and humiliation. I get this, I know this. It saddens me because, as I have said, reading has always been a source of joy to me. So I don't push, I don't try to convince them of anything that they are not ready for because I am not looking to devalue their experience. They get enough of that already. What I want them to know (and often the staff is not quite on the same page as me on this) is that the library is there as an option and an opportunity for them should they want or need it.

Second, and this was my big "A-ha!" moment this week: who says everybody has to be "a reader"? I'm not debating being literate; I'm talking about this idea that seems to be held as sacred by youth services librarians that if we just find the right book for them, every kid and teen will become a reader (meaning someone who reads books for fun). So here's the thing, again, says who, and why?

There are lots of things I do well that I would not want to do for fun. I'm pretty good at cleaning a toilet but it's not how I like to spend my Friday nights. I'm a whiz at whipping up a quick dinner but I don't really enjoy it (now baking . . . that's a whole different story). But my point is, there are lots of things we know how to do, do well, but really don't enjoy. And for lots of people, reading is one of those things. And that's okay!

I've had two conversations in the last week about what public libraries should be and in both of them, I said that I don't know if the future of libraries is going to be books on a shelf. Now don't get me wrong, I love books on a shelf. But books on a shelf are not necessarily always what our communities need or want (which I guess we will learn given the materials freeze).

INFORMATION comes in many forms and formats. We provide information when we teach a teen how to play Boggle or how to knit or how to understand their rights. We provide information when we show someone where to apply for food stamps or where the closest food pantry is. We provide information by having a place people can use a computer for free. Over the years, I've heard people say (with such scorn!) "They're only here to go on the computers!" ONLY?! That's HUGE. Think about what your life would be like if you didn't have a computer available when you need it. Our providing that is VITAL.

So, to all the "non-readers" out there, I say, come on in! We have lots to offer and we won't ever force you to read a book.

Cash in the Coffee Can: $152

Reality

The reality is that some teens hate to read. Some teens would literally rather have a tooth pulled than have to read anything, especially in front of other people. It is deeply, personally sad for me to think that one of the things that has brought me the most joy in my life could be so painful and shaming to a young person. But that's the reality for too many of our teens, especially the boys.

I met a young man last night named Billy. He is a resident at a group home for boys with severe enough emotional disabilities that the DOE has washed their hands of them. When we were introduced and he found out I was from the library he announced that he hated the library, he hated to read, he had never been to a library and he never would. Billy is 17.

I was able to get him to fill out the application for his library card without too much drama, begging or bribery. It was only after he had filled out the application, signed his card, started to examine it that he realized what he had done and demanded we take the card away because he would not touch it again. He also announced that he couldn't read; when I pointed out that he had filled out the paperwork with much less difficulty than many people I have met, Billy admitted that he reads just fine, he just hates to do it.

We have all heard this from teens, yes? There are lots of ways to respond to this and it was interesting for me to watch how the activities director and another young resident (a library user) both responded to Billy's histrionics.

Me, I played it cool. We will be taking the boys on a "field trip" to the library after the new year and while Billy swears he will be someplace else (another part of Queens, the Bahamas, anywhere but the residence), he did get his first library card. There were other boys there who refused to even come into the room to do that. So I'm pretty sure Billy will be on the van with the rest of unit, the staff and me, who just hopes she doesn't get car sick.

I'm pretty sure we'll win him over to our side on the visit, especially since he paraphrased my favorite t-shirt when I told him this ("I'd rather go over to the dark side," he said. "They have cookies."). After all, sometimes, we actually do have cookies. And we can certainly help him find out everything he could want to know about cookies, the dark side, dark matter, Star Wars, Wookiees, etc..

Score 1 for the librarians.


Cash in the Coffee Can: $138

A Rant

We interrupt this blog for a brief rant.

It's called Summer READING! It's not Summer Avatar-building or Summer Social Media-using. It's Summer READING!

Reading, people. We've seen the studies, year after year, that show that kids and teens need to READ during the summer to maintain the literacy gains they made during the school year and not lose ground for the next year. READING does that. Not watching movies. Not listening to music. Not, to quote Weird Al, "Posting 'Me, too!' like some brain-dead AOLer.'" READING.

So when planning a summer READING program or a summer READING website, it might be nice, for example, to make reading and literacy the focus. Just saying.

Cash in the Coffee Can: $124

Imagination, Part 2

Tips for Inspiring Your Teens' Imaginations

1. Keep reading aloud. We know the importance of reading aloud to pre- and emerging readers. It helps older kids and teens, too, by exposing them to broader vocabulary than they can read, plus, it means they can spend their mental energy picturing the story you are sharing. Try some of the titles on various "Picture Books for Older Readers" lists or read a (thrilling) passage from a favorite novel.
   
2. Design your programs to be imaginative. I have always done lots of arts and crafts programs and still debate whether or not it's a good idea to have a sample of the project. Some kids and teens want their project to look exactly like the sample which clearly limits their imaginative process. Others can see the sample and still do something unique. So when you're prepping a craft program, think of ways to encourage each participant's unique vision.
3. Science is imaginative! One of the coolest things about hands-on science programs is that they open kids' and teens' minds to the possibilities of the universe. With the CLDC, we've been putting lots of emphasis on STEM programming for kids--teens love science, too, so make sure you're adding in science activities as part of your program menu. There are lots of cheap, easy and fun science projects you can do in under an hour. I'm planning to try out one where you extract the iron flecks from enriched breakfast cereal with a magnet!
4. Try a "fill in the bubbles" program by photocopying a page from a graphic novel that has lots going on in the illustrations. White out or cover the text in the bubbles and have the teens write their own dialogue. You can do this with comic strips from the newspaper, too. I had a great time doing this with teens in juvenile detention.
5. Ask teens questions! Get them to really think about what they think, what they say, what they do. Don't challenge or be disrespectful (I overheard a woman in a restaurant the other night asking her husband "Why would you do that?" That and my much-used "Are you kidding me?" don't count as good questions!). But be CURIOUS and patient, too, because you'll probably hear a lot of "I dunno." Keep at them. Challenge your teens to not be intellectually lazy. Help them explore what's going on in their heads and be able to match them with resources that will take them to the next level.

I am obsessed with the TV show "Raising Hope" on FOX. I love the quirky characters and the twisted humor. What I love most is the sweet and good heart at the center of all that wackiness. One of my favorite episodes so far was called "Dream Hoarders" and it's about how Jimmy (the young single dad) tries to get his parents (who had him as teenagers) to stop "wasting time" on dreams like winning the lottery or hoarding stuff from other people's trash to use in the house they will have "someday." Since this is TV, of course, at the end he realizes how fortunate he was to have been raised by dreamers because the alternative is pretty dull.

So on this Thanksgiving, I give thanks for having been raised by a family that left me alone to my wild imaginings and only tried to rein me in when it involved destruction of property and/or potential injury. I am especially grateful for a career that is all about helping people and MOST especially, I am grateful for the wonderful, important, challenging, vital work you all do EVERY DAY for our teens. Thank you. :)

Cash in the Coffee Can: $110.00

Imagination, Part 1

I've been thinking a lot lately about imagination. I'm not sure why exactly, but it's been circling around in my brain since the summer.

When I think about the benefits of reading, the one that means the most to me on a personal level, the one that I find the most valuable and the hardest to describe adequately is that it gives the imagination a work out. I often tell kids and teens (and adults, too) that reading is like any other skill: to get better at it, you need to practice, challenge yourself, and practice some more.

Imagination is like that, too. What saddens me the most about our teens today is that many of them seem to have really flabby, out-of-shape, underused imagination muscles!

I sat in on an author visit last week by Adam Gidwitz, a teacher and newly published author whose book A Tale Dark and Grimm came out at the end of October. I'm a big believer in synchronicity, so I had to laugh and figure the universe was trying to tell me something when Adam quoted Albert Einstein during his talk, since I'd been musing on this quote for days:

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

What was especially great about Adam's talk was that he pointed out that reading works the imagination, but what you also need to do is have time. Time to daydream, time to let things stew in our brains, time to look like we're doing nothing when really our amazing brains are doing the very things that make us human. There was a teacher in the room while Adam spoke who was so much in agreement with this sentiment that I thought he was going to bust a button (the first time I ever saw someone actually fit that description!!).

Our teens are plugged in ALL THE TIME! It seems physically impossible for them not to be (they are no worse than adults though--there should be laws against people who stop on the middle of the subways steps because they can't climb and text at the same time). So when are they imagining? When are they getting a chance to dream?

I read that in addition to the practical problems of illiteracy, the reason so many people who struggle to read end up in prisons is because not reading so limited their sense of what they-and their world-could be, that crime seemed their only option.

So what, besides offering a wide range of books and other reading materials for teens, can we do to encourage their imaginations? I have some ideas I'll share next week. What do you think? Leave your ideas in the comments.

Cash in the Coffee Can: $96.00

A Day Late (But Not a Dollar Short)

I had the privilege of doing a Table Talk Session at last week's NYLA conference on the Queens Teen Book Slam. I had librarians from all over New York State sit in for my talks and the most interesting and important thing that came up was something I hadn't really thought of before.

This past summer, I had teens from 12 different Queens Library locations participate in the Book Slam. All of these teens are what I would consider "readers" (taking on 5 books ranging from average to very challenging earns any teen that title in my book) but yet in many cases, they were strangers to the librarians in the local libraries they use the most.

So when this came up during the NYLA talks, I had a "DUH!" moment, because that was totally me as a teen. I regularly checked out armloads of books from my public library but I never went up to the librarian's desk or went to programs. When I said this at the talk, I got many smiles and nods and then someone said, "But that also means that no one ever came up to you (and now the teens in your program) while you were at the shelves to talk about the books."

And that was an "A-HA!" moment because she was right on. We have a whole population of avid teen readers who slip in under the radar, grab their books and jet. Now, as one of these library mole teens, I had no problems with being treated this way. I didn't WANT anyone to bother me at the library. But on the other hand, I was in college before I started having conversations about books, and that's a shame.

If we don't make the effort to reach these teens at the shelf, we'll never know if the books we're buying are what they want, if they would attend programs if someone would just invite them to, or if they really and truly are happy on their own.

So think about this all year but especially in the summer when we see new and different teens. Take a second to leave the desk, go to the shelves and comment on the book a teen is considering or one of the ones in their arms. Nothing big, just a "I really liked that one" or "I've heard that was good. Let me know what you think when you finish." That small gesture may be the start of a whole new relationship for your library. And that teen.

Cash in the Coffee Can = $82.00

The (Continuing) Evolution of Written Language

This past summer, I read a post on the blog for Changing Lives Through Literature (an alternative sentencing program using book discussion) that talked about how our brains are not hard-wired for reading. This was something I should have been able to deduce logically, but had never really considered.

Written language is only about 5500 years old, a very recent development in the big picture of life on Earth. The processes that we use for reading actually developed for other purposes and that we have managed to cobble them together to be able to create and decode written languages is truly astounding!

What made me think of this now was that I treated myself to a Kindle last week. It is THE. COOLEST. THING. EVER. And it immediately got me thinking about what this technology will mean in the near future.

What I noticed immediately, though, was that reading on it seemed to use different reading muscles than I was used to from reading printed books. I very deliberately had to resist the urge to skim, something I never do with paper books but often do while reading online. I could actually feel my brain making the adjustment, it took some practice, and then I was good to go.

So what does this have to do with Teen Summer Reading?

A person who will be a teenager in 2011 was born during the 1990s; they have never known a world without the internet. Their relationship with written language cannot help but be shaped by this. Texting, AIM, Facebook (etc.) require interacting with written language in ways that are different from opening up a paper and print book. This is both a change in language and a change in format.

I am not putting a judgment on this and I am not saying that today’s teens have an either/or approach to written language. We all know teens who text away with a 300 page book in front of them. These different ways of interacting with written language do not necessarily contradict each other. But we need to be aware that they exist.

What I AM saying is think of what this could mean (from both “positive” and “negative” perspectives) when you are thinking about Teen Summer Reading—the big picture and your own plans. Think about your personal experience of reading as a teen and how it is different (and the same) as that of teens today. Think about ways to embrace not only different interactions with print literacy but the many different literacies.

Cash in the Coffee Can: $68.00

Why We’re Here

I’d like to ask you all to put on your Armchair Philosopher hats for a moment and ponder two things. Ready? Here we go:

Who was I when I was a teenager?

AND

Why am I here now, working in a public library, working with teens?

To me, librarianship is a calling. It’s about books, yes, but it’s more about bringing what’s inside those books (and websites, audiobooks, ebooks, magazines, newspapers, programs, etc.) to PEOPLE! And my extra special favorite people are teens and tweens.

Many of you have heard me say that I would not relive my own tween and early teen years for all the money in the world. This is what I think about when I’m working with a particularly . . . challenging . . . teen. It’s hell being a teenager—thank goodness it doesn’t last long and it’s not contagious! But teens are still sponges—they are learning, growing, changing--often right before our eyes.

Did you know that what teens experience in these years actually gets hardwired into their brains? So if they are being exposed to new things, new information, new skills, that will make their brains all stretchy and bright.

And what better time to help them figure out who they are and who they can be and make their brains and stretchy and bright as possible than summer?

If we frame Teen Summer Reading (for ourselves, at least) as an adventure and an opportunity to help teens in this way, not just as a two-month long exercise in pain and futility, it can’t help but become more fun, not just for teens, but for us, too.

To misquote Sesame Street’s Abby Cadabby: "If you're a LIBRARIAN," Abby says, "you get to help people find their dreams. Not just with magic. My mommy says that you don't need magic for everything. Sometimes magic is just being a good listener to someone and helping them find their way. And know what's in their heart. If you can help people see be what's in their heart, that's magic AND LIBRARIANSHIP."

Cash in the Coffee Can = $54.00

What’s The Big Deal about Summer Reading Anyway?!

All of my rants about numbers = funding = proving our worth, aside, is there really a point to teen summer reading?

You be the judge:

Teens continue to acquire literacy skills through middle and high school (especially true for English Language Learners) so they can still lose ground if they don’t read over the summer.

And the lost ground of previous summers has a cumulative effect so kids and tweens who don’t read over the summer can literally become teens who CAN’T read. These trends are especially true for low-income youth and for boys (especially boys of color).

In addition, while reading scores for elementary school students have improved in the last twenty years; they’ve been declining among high school seniors since the early 1990s (“To Read or Not to Read,” National Endowment for the Arts, 2007).

And reading is good for teens (and communities) in other ways. Readers make better citizens! Adults who read often and well have better-paying jobs, enjoy more hobbies and leisure activities, and are more likely to be volunteers and to vote (NEA, 2007).

So, given this information, it seems pretty clear to me that teen summer reading MATTERS, don’t you think?

Cash in the Coffee Can= $40.00

The Coffee Cash/Community Service Challenge

I believe, fully and completely, that Queens Library can register 10,000 teens for Summer Reading 2011. So I am putting my money where my mouth is. My coffee money.

Every day until June 9, 2011 (the "official" kick-off of Summer Reading 2011) I will donate the $2.00 I would normally spend on coffee to the Coffee Cash/Community Service Challenge (I back donated from 10/2/10 so there will be a nice round $500).

If at the end of the summer, we have registered 10,000 or more teens, I will donate the $500 I have saved to a charity of the Queens Library YA Librarians' choosing.

Now, I KNOW that Queens teens are the most voracious readers in the city so I am adding a second challenge. If the Queens teens log 25,000 or more books during Summer Reading 2011, I will donate 25 hours of my time to a charity of the TEENS' choosing.

To keep me honest and to help everyone remember the spirit of Summer Reading, I will blog everything Thursday morning for the next 35 weeks with an update on the amount saved for the challenge and ideas and information about teen summer reading.

Fall is in the air but summer will be here before we know it!

Happy reading!

Vikki :)

Queens Library
Coordinator of Young Adult Services